Syrian troops and tanks stormed Deraa on Monday, residents said, seeking to crush resistance in the city where a month-long uprising against the autocratic 11-year rule of President Bashar al-Assad first erupted. A witness told Reuters he saw bodies in the street after hundreds of soldiers in armoured vehicles poured into Deraa, a few miles
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Somali pirates have freed a Greek-owned, Cyprus-flagged ship they seized in January after receiving a ransom, pirates and a piracy monitoring group said. The pirates said they had released MV Eagle, a 52,163-tonne merchant vessel and its crew of 24 Filipinos that was seized in January about 500 miles south-west of Oman, while it was
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. DR. JIM LEONTIADES CIIM, The Cyprus Business School The ability to compete internationally defines a nations competence – what it is good at compared to other nations. For a good number of years the answer in the case of Cyprus was clearly tourism. Tourism was the bringer of foreign currency as well as considerable
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. The Risk Watch Column By Dr Alan Waring Seemingly from nowhere, a medical epidemic with horrendous ramifications for individuals, families, societies, economies and governments has descended with lightning stealth upon the world. Organic Brain Syndrome is the generic name for a collection of conditions, which includes those where the brain tissue shrinks and/or is
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. Disabled people are those who, for the unfortunate loss of a limb or limited mechanical use, cannot complete simple chores as quickly or efficiently as other “able bodied” members of society. Cripples are the idiots who have low-tech brains that tell them they can do as they like, regardless of other members of society.
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Cyprus aspires to enhance its leading role in world shipping to a higher level in order to be a step ahead of the competition, both as an international registry and as a base for international shipping operations, Transport Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis said on Friday. “Cyprus’ strategic location and a series of other factors, such as
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Greece is considering extending maturities on its sovereign debt to make it sustainable, two national newspapers said on Friday, joining a flurry of recent press reports outlining options for a possible restructuring. Greek and EU officials have steadfastly denied a debt restructuring is planned, in the face of mounting evidence that markets are factoring one
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The dollar hovered around three-year lows on Friday and looked set to come under further pressure next week, while a stronger yen weighed on Tokyo stocks in holiday-thinned Good Friday trade. Gold hit a fresh all-time high of $1,509 an ounce, extending its record-breaking rally to a sixth session, as the weaker dollar prodded investors
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. ANALYSIS Less than a month after European leaders unveiled a "comprehensive package" they said would fix the euro zone, their anti-crisis strategy is fraying and may be in need of a radical rethink. Rising public anger in northern Europe at a series of taxpayer funded bailouts is sending tremors through the political landscape, boosting
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China signalled on Thursday it was ready to buy more debt from the euro zone's weaker states, in a move to help stabilise the bloc's fragile finances and protect its business interests. After investing billions of euros in Portuguese and Greek bonds to diversity its "huge" foreign exchange reserves away from the dollar, China was
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